Questioning the net generation: A collaborative project in Australian higher education

Gregor Kennedy
Biomedical Multimedia Unit
The University of Melbourne

Kerri-Lee Krause
Centre for the Study of Higher Education
The University of Melbourne

Kathleen Gray, Terry Judd
Biomedical Multimedia Unit
The University of Melbourne

Susan Bennett, Karl Maton
Faculty of Education, University of Wollongong

Barney Dalgarno,
School of Information Studies
Charles Sturt University

Andrea Bishop
School of Science and Technology
Charles Sturt University

This paper describes a project, which has been supported by the Carrick Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, that aims to identify how the technology-based tools of a new generation of students can be successfully used by higher education. Recent commentaries propose that Universities are ill-equipped to educate a new generation of learners whose sophisticated use of emerging technologies is incompatible with current teaching practice. This project will investigate this proposed gap between learners’ and teachers’ use of technologies and identify the implications for higher education. This paper presents the rationale of the project, highlighting its critical stance on current notions of the ‘Net Generation’. The three phases of the project – Investigation, Implementation and Dissemination – are then described. The project will be undertaken as a collaboration between staff at The University of Melbourne, the University of Wollongong and Charles Sturt University. In the final stages of the project, members of the ascilite community will be able to participate in practical workshops based on the lessons we have learned from questioning the ‘Net Generation’.

Keywords: net generation, digital natives, learning, educational technology